International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume 12 Number 5 - Jun 2014
Improving Predictability by Blending VSM with
KANBAN
Mukesh Kumar Tiwari#1, Prof. Mrs. Suman Sharma*2,
#1
#2
M.E. Dissertation, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Truba College of Engineering & Technology, Indore (M.P.)
Professor & Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Truba College of Engineering & Technology, Indore (M.P.)
#1
J-86, M.I.G. Colony, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla Nagar, Indore (M.P.), India
Abstract— Value flows in every process, and early days was of
focusing on Value Addition at every such intermediate stage of
process. However, with evolution of KANBAN, JIT under the
umbrella of the Toyota Manufacturing System
(TMS)
emphasized on eliminating waste i.e. Muda( A Japanese Term for
Waste, Commonly used in Toyota Management System) and
gradually Value Addition is replaced with evaluating Process as
a Value Stream and Mapping critical activities.
VSM, has become a significant tool these days to analyze,
evaluate Process from Status Quo to carve it future State by
eliminating inherent Waste(Muda) within the process.
Keywords— Kanban, JIT, Muda, TMS, Value Stream, VSM,
TPT, Takt.
I. INTRODUCTION
The Value Stream Mapping have been appealing these
days as emerging way to improve from Status Quo to next
order. The VSM has found its place of applicability to an
Industrial process to a Social Activity.
The work given hereby is a Practical Study of a Die
Casting Industry, and grasping of facts summarized in the
form of to correlate how does VSM is useful in balancing the
production to harmonize Takt thus to improve Predictability
of Production for scheduling business cycle.
Die Casting is category different than other manufacturing
processes mainly due to very high Tool Changeover time and
High initial start-up i.e. Pre Heating of Die, Initial Waste
around 50-60 Shots (Nos. Of Parts) by that time the Die is
equally heated from all nooks & Corner. Moreover the post
Manual Works e.g. Fettling, Trash Cutting, Polishing, Shot
Blasting makes it more dependent process on man oriented
rather a Machine Driven.
The products in Die casting industries are identified based
on their appearance for Die loading as : Runner Products (Minimum occupancy of 50% of
Capacity).
 Repeater Products (Minimum occupancy of 25~30%
of Capacity).
 Stranger Products (Rare occupancy of 10~25% of
Capacity).
The above categorisation is based on their frequency of
appearance in production cycle. The Die Casting industry has
a trade-off to balancing the VAs over NVAs having a Die
Loading for a minimum number of 1000 Shots (useable) as a
Production Batch.
ISSN: 2231-5381
Constrained batch of Production size with blending of
appearance frequency and high dependence on post
operations to converts efforts into a Business Transaction
worsen the problem. Therefore Predictability of output and
visualization of Production Cycle pace is not possible until a
sincere efforts are put resource requirements are optimized to
improve on : Takt.
 TPT (Through put Time)
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Like the Newton’s First Law of Motion the change in the
state of a Body is only a result of Forces Applied on
otherwise there cannot be a change i.e. for Any Change in
State there has to be an External Force working on it. In a
process the Force is termed as Value, the Process advances
with various value additions only.
This value addition in Manufacturing Process flows like a
Stream, this is how Value Stream a terminology evolved. A
value stream is summation of all the actions at every point of
change or transfer, both Value Added (VAs) & Non-Value
Added (NVAs) currently required bringing out a product
through the process flows essential for the product [1]: The Design Flow from Concept to Launch.
 The Production Flow from Raw Material into the End
Products reaching to Customers.
This looks at the flow of Production activities from
Customer Demand back through Raw Material, which is the
flow we usually relate to Lean Manufacturing and precisely
the struggle area to implement Lean Manufacturing Methods.
Taking a Value Stream perspective that means working on
a bigger picture, not just Individual Processes, and improving
the whole, not just optimizing a part of it. How Value Stream
Mapping (VSM) goes on is as shown below in Figure : 2-1 :-
Figure : 2- 1 Flow of Value Stream
http://www.ijettjournal.org
Page 209
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume 12 Number 5 - Jun 2014
Value-Stream Mapping (VSM) is a Pencil and Paper tool
that helps to see and understand the Flow of material and
information (Together) as a product under process as
advances from one stage to the next i.e. its path through the
entire Value Stream. What we mean by Value-Stream
Mapping is simply Following and Tracing a product’s
production path from Customer to Supplier to Process to
Customer:


2) Material & Information Flow :
Within the production flow, the movement of material
through the factory is the flow that usually comes to mind.
But there is another flow— of information—that tells each
process what to make or do next. Material and information
flow are two sides of the same coin. You must map both of
them, this is as shown in below Figure : 2-2 :-
Draw a Visual Representation of every process as the
material and information Flows / Passes through
(Current State).
Examine & Evaluate Flow of Value Stream, to
eliminate Muda (Waste) or NVAs.
Draw a “Future State” map of how Value should flow
in Stream.
1) The Advantages of Value Stream Mapping:
It helps [2] in visualizing more than just the single-process
level, i.e. Assembly, Welding, Machining, Painting,
Inspection, Storage etc. in production and the Flow of Process
can be seen to determine bottlenecks :









It helps to see more than Waste and Mapping helps to
see the sources of waste in entire Value Stream.
It provides a common language for talking about
manufacturing processes.
It makes decisions about the flow apparent, so can be
discussed them. Otherwise, many details and decisions
on your shop floor just happen by default.
It ties together Lean Concepts and Techniques, which
helps to avoid “Cherry Picking”.
It forms the basis of an implementation plan. By
helping in design how the whole door-to-door flow
should operate— a missing piece in so many Lean
Efforts.
Value Stream maps become a blueprint for Lean
Implementation. Imagine trying to build a house
without a blueprint!
It shows the linkage between the Information Flow and
the Material Flow. No other tool does this.
It is much more useful than quantitative tools and
layout diagrams that produce a tally of Non-ValueAdded (NVAs) steps, Lead Time, Distance Traveled,
the amount of Inventory, and so on.
Value-stream mapping is a Qualitative Tool by which,
helps in describing in detail how facility should
operate in order to create flow.
Numbers are good for creating a sense of urgency or as
before/after measures. Value-stream mapping is good
for describing what you are actually going to do to
affect those numbers
ISSN: 2231-5381
Figure : 2- 2 Information & Material Flow in VSM
In Lean Manufacturing the information flow is treated with
just as much importance as the material flow. Toyota and its
suppliers may use the same basic material-conversion
processes as mass producers, like Stamping /Welding /
Assembly / Painting / Machining etc., but Toyota plants
regulate their production quite differently from mass
producers.
The Learning is, “How cans Flow of Information so that,
one Process will Produce only what is required by the next
Process & When it needs it?” which in other words can be
said shifting to OTIF (On Time in Full) methodology
working.
3) Selection Methodology for a Product Family :One point to understand clearly before starting is the need
to focus on one product family.
The Customers Cares and Interested about their specific
products, not all the Products. So it will not be helping to
map everything that goes through the shop floor. Unless it
required in-case of a small one Product plant, Drawing
Product Flows for all the Products on one map is too
complicated. Value-stream mapping means walking and
drawing the processing steps (material and information) for
one product family from door to door & Beginning to End in
the Plant.
“Identify Product families from the customer end of the
value stream. A family is a group of products that passes
through similar processing steps and over common equipment
in downstream processes” [1]. In general, the Product
Families should not try to be discerning just by looking at
upstream fabrication steps, which may serve many product
families in a batch mode. These Learning are to be Tabulated
in form of Matrix as shown below in Figure : 2-3, What are
the Selected Product Family, how many different finished part
http://www.ijettjournal.org
Page 210
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume 12 Number 5 - Jun 2014
numbers there are in the family, how much is wanted by the
customer, and how often.
Figure : 2- 3 Selection Matrix for Product Family for VSM

Runner Parts i.e. Fast Moving almost regularly
moves every month.

Repeater Parts i.e. Not fast moving parts but,
having trend of movements.

Visitor Parts i.e. Parts are having very slow
Movement and appears as & when demand arises
usually with a large interval.
This phenomenon has affected the economics of the
company in terms of :





III. OBJECTIVE
The objective of this Study to understand Pull Based
Replenishment system in a Industry, Challenges associated
with in implementation and enhancing the understanding on
subject so far, Taught & learnt as Curriculum Studies. This
also gives an opportunity to update understanding Practically
Shop Floor Realities and take an assessment of Gap between
the Academic Methodologies and Industrial Practices.
It also has an objective of establishing acquaintance with
the subject, provides a real time Shop Floor Exposure to
Students and giving an opportunity to take his learning
forward more Focused, Forward and moving from Virtual to
Real world of Happening.

Piled up Finished Products Stocks.
Large Nos. of Slow Moving Finished Parts.
Working Capital Shortages.
Expenses on Preservation of Parts.
Rejection of Parts due to Handling & Exposure to
atmosphere i.e. Oxidation of Aluminum or White
Rusting in common industrial terminology.
Floor Area Occupied.
IV. METHODOLOGY
1) Process Flow Chart :
The Steps involved in analyzing current state of Operations
based on the Standardization requirements, how the activities
are linked with each other and affect directly or indirectly or a
Dependent Activities influencing outcome is illustrated in
Figure : 4-1 Process Flow Chart for Fact Finding :
1) Fact Finding:
While, understanding the operations at M/s XYZ and corelating their Business Process with Standard Operating
Procedures (SOP), Industries Benchmarking and other Best
Practices across the domain. Following gaps were observed :
Since the Industry is a Job Worker and the Production
is dependent on the Monthly requirements of its
Customers. These monthly requirements are issued in
the form of Delivery Schedules for the month “Firm
Requirements” and other 02 Future month’s as
“Tentative Requirements” for Planning of Capacity,
Raw Material & other Resources etc.

The Nature of Business is catering Auto OEMs where
the demand itself is based on the Sales forecast and
largely dependent on the Market Affecting Factors.


The Trend Analysis for monthly offtaking by it’s
customers indicates there is a large variation in the
Indicated Requirements & what has finally resulted in
business.
The entire Laundry List of Products can be categorized
as :
ISSN: 2231-5381
Figure : 4- 1 Study & Analysis Methodology
2) The DMAIC Cycle as Methodology :
For implementing Replenishment / Pull Based (KANBAN)
system each and every Business process Element to be
Analyzed, Evaluated and Gaps have to be established to
improve from.
http://www.ijettjournal.org
Page 211
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume 12 Number 5 - Jun 2014
Each element of DMAIC Cycle [3] has surfaced some
Critical & Important aspects of the process to be studied &
monitored they are :-
Figure : 5- 1 Plant Layout of M/s XYZ Ltd.
The process flow at M/s XYZ is also as given below in Figure
: 5-2 :
Figure : 4- 2 the DMAIC Cycle
Summing up the above learning into element wise above
Critical Area of operations at M/s XYZ as emerged to be
taken up for improving from current state to a Futuristic State,
these are as shown in above Figure : 4-2:












Study of Plant Layout.
Study of Process Layout.
Developing Process Relationship of Part to
Machines.
Study of Existing Process for Cycle Time.
Work out for Takt Time.
Value Stream Map of Existing Process.
Production Planning Process :Customer’s Order / Delivery Schedule Receiving
Process.
Working out Manufacturing Plan.
Raw Material Procurement Plan.
Nos. of Production Shifts.
Manpower Planning.
Die Loading Plan.
V. AT SHOP FLOOR
The layout of M/s XYZ oriented on the basis of Melting
Furnace and sub set of Holding furnaces for holding molten
metal to ease the operations. The schematic layout of the
industry is as given below in Figure : 5-1 :
Figure : 5- 2 Process Flow at M/s XYZ Ltd.
The manufacturing facilities (Infrastructure) at M/s XYZ
Ltd. available are :
 Raw Material Stores.
 Melting Section.
 Tool & Die Maintenance & Crib.
 Die Casting Section.
 Fettling Section.
 Machining Section.
 Quality Control & Inspection Section.
 Packing & Delivery
1) Die Casting Section :
The Die casting Section is Equipped with Horizontal Cold
Chamber High Pressure Horizontal Die Casting Machines in
various capacities. These machines are well supported by
ISSN: 2231-5381
http://www.ijettjournal.org
Page 212
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume 12 Number 5 - Jun 2014
Electric Holding Furnaces which maintains the Molten Metal
at a Temperature of 665°C to ensure fluidity in the closed Die
to reach up to intricate shapes/corners. This ensure the Die
casted parts to be free from Short Molding, Cold Shuts,
Welds (Joining lines visibility at the merging area of two melt
streams of melt) etc. The Machines are using Nitrogen Gas as
Secondary Pressure System to ensure Melt flows and
compacted in the closed cavities of Die. The Die Castings
Machines available at M/s XYZ Ltd are listed below in Table
: 5-1:
Table : 5- 1 PDC Machines Availability
Sr
Types of Machine
Availability
1
Type : H, 800 D (800 T Capacity Die Casting
Machine) with Auto Ladler, Auto Extractor,
Auto Die Coat Spray .
01 No.
2
Type : H, 660 D (660 T capacity Die Casting
Machine) 01 Machine with Auto Ladler.
02 Nos.
3
Type : H, 420 D (420 T Capacity Die Casting
Machine) with Auto Ladler, Auto Extractor,
Auto Die Coat Spray .
01 No.
4
Type : H, 400 D (400 T Capacity Die Casting
Machine)
01 No.
5
Type : H ,250 D (250 T Capacity Die Casting
Machine)
01 No.
6
Type : H, 120 D (120 T Capacity Die Casting
Machine)
01 No.



50003000Hours of Production i.e. Challenging
Safety Stock (Excess is also one of the MudaWaste).
Study & Improvement of Through put Time (TPT).
Constrained Process Identification & Evaluation.
Standardization i.e. Development of SOPs.
3) Study of Business Performance of M/s XYZ Ltd. :
The Broad Classifications are based on following
Assumptions of Nos. of Parts supplied in the month, which
directly correlates to the Business Volume of the month and
also to the Production of parts (Capacity Utilization) as given
below in Table : 5-2 Business Class Assumptions:
Table : 5- 2 Business Class Assumptions
Sr
1
2
3
Business Volume / Month
 3000 Nos.
 5000 Nos.
 5000 Nos.
Category Assumed
Visitor / Stranger
Repeater
Runner
The average Monthly Business Volumes were examined to
primarily classify parts based on the above assumptions as
shown below in Table : 5-3 Monthly Average Business
Volume Category Wise :
Table : 5- 3 Monthly Average Business Volumes Category Wise
2) The background of KANBAN implementation in M/s
XYZ Ltd:
The first version of KANBAN was implemented during the
second half of 2012 in M/s XYZ Ltd. as an initiative of its
one of the Major customer for pulling the supplies i.e. only
Deliveries are driven by KANBAN Triggers.
Since Dec 2013 an upgraded version of the KANBAN
philosophy was started up to be implemented to extend
KANBAN to Production System, When this thesis project
was introduced into this KANBAN project, Combined
Engineering is still on its second step which is expected to be
finished during 2014.
During the first step, the bottleneck has been defined,
electronic KANBAN signals (Email base Triggers) have been
applied in the Dispatch system; Stock & WIP has been
followed up on daily basis and Die Loading on Machines as
well as on a weekly basis as a KPI (key performance
indicator). [4]
In the second step, the KANBAN implementation would
continue what has been done in the first step and pull the
KANBAN project going further. The following subprojects as
described [4]:
 Working out plan for WIP & Takt.
 Output monitoring from each stage of operation.
 Redefining KANABAN Size from a Lot size to few
ISSN: 2231-5381
Sr.
Business Model
1
Runner
45954
2
Repeater
22205
3
Stranger
6975
Average Buying /Month (Nos.)
Grand Total
75134
This is further classified to establish Machines Involvement
and Category wise Utilization to be more Focused and
Meticulous in developing Production Plan, as shown below in
Table : 5-4 Business Model Classification
Table : 5- 4 Business Model Classification
Average
Buying
/Month
-
Classification of Business Model
Runner
Repeater
Stranger
1
Grand
Total
1
250T
1
9
10
400T
1
1
2
2
2
6
660T
2
800T
2
2
Grand Total
3
6
12
21
The Average Monthly Business Volumes are expressed in
terms of Revenue generation to establish a relationship
http://www.ijettjournal.org
Page 213
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume 12 Number 5 - Jun 2014
between the Capacity Utilized for vis-à-vis Revenue
Generated, which is shown in Table : 5-5 Monthly Sales
(Average) Business Model Wise : Table : 5- 5 Monthly Sales (Average) Business Model Wise
Sr.
Business Model
Buying Value / Month (Rs.)
1
Runner
14954864
2
Repeater
6687807
4
Visitor / Stranger
1676716
Grand Total
23319387
The Capacity utilization with respect to Business Volumes
i.e. in terms of Capacity Occupancies and Value Realization
for different business proportions is as shown Below for
Capacity Acquisition (which is as shown below in Figure :
5-3 Capacity Acquisition Business Model Wise) & Value
Proportions respectively (which is as shown below in Figure :
5-4 Value Proportions Business Model Wise) :-



Runner = 61% Utilization of Total Capacity.
Repeater = 30% Utilization of Total Capacity.
Stranger = 09% Utilization of Total Capacity.
Which is further interpreted in terms of Value Realization
against each Business Model :


Runner = 64% Generation of Total Revenue.
Repeater = 29% Generation of Total Revenue.
Stranger = 07% Generation of Total Revenue.
This gives a preliminary insight of the Business at M/s
Combined Engineering, though the Major generation of
Revenue comes from Runners but, Repeaters Product is
having significant contribution in terms of Capacity
Utilization and Revenue Generation. Therefore cannot be
ignored, the distribution is as shown in Table : 5-6 Repeater’s
Business Contribution & Value Distribution in Figure : 5-5
Repeater’s Value Distribution Part Wise :
Table : 5- 6 Repeater's Average Sales Volume
Business
Model
Classification
Part Description
(Castings)
Buying Value /
Month (Rs.)
Repeater
L. Crankcase
2567538.00
Repeater
L. Crankcase cover
955290.24
Repeater
R. Crankcase
896218.68
Repeater
R. Crankcase cover
752236.23
Repeater
Mission case comp
680598.23
Grand Total
5851881.38
Figure : 5- 3 Capacity Acquistion (Business Model)
Figure : 5- 5 Repeater's Value Distribution
Figure : 5- 4 Value Proportion (Business Model)
4) Value Stream Map (Current State) :
Which further reveals that the annulated Capacity
Acquisition for following Business Model are as under:-
ISSN: 2231-5381
The Business Model (Repeater) is identified as the Scope
of Improvement, which resembles with our Problem
http://www.ijettjournal.org
Page 214
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume 12 Number 5 - Jun 2014
Definition of Rolling out Kanban in a Fluctuating Demand
Cycle. Further investigating the problem the Cycle Times of
following products have been studied :




L Crankcase Castings.
R Crankcase Castings.
R Crankcase Cover Castings.
L Crankcase Cover Castings.
Mission Case Castings.
5
Abrasive Grinding
1.00
100%
98%
1.03
6
Manual Fettling
2.58
100%
100%
2.60
7
Post Operations
1.20
100%
95%
1.27
TOTAL
97.87
-
-
102.7
With the above data (Table : 5-8) have drawn the Value
Stream Mapping (VSM) of Current State of L Crankcase
Casting is (as shown in Figure : 5-7) :-
The Cycle Time of each process element is as recorded in
Table : 6-10 (Shown Below) and Throughput Time (TPT) and
Processing Time (PT) is calculated as:-
Casting
(Seconds)
Trash Cutting
(Seconds)
Abrasive Grinding
(Seconds)
Manual Fettling
(Seconds)
Post Operations
(Seconds)
Table : 5- 7 Cycle Time of Repeater Class Parts
L. Crankcase
125
60
60
155
72
R. Crankcase Cover
82
60
45
135
50
R. Crankcase
85
65
60
125
30
Mission Case Comp
82
30
30
60
22
L. Crankcase Cover
82
60
20
120
45
Parts Description
(Castings)
The Effective Cycle Timing is worked out for each
Repeater Category Part validating with Quality Reliability of
Output of the Operation and Machine’s Up-Time Trends to
establish a realistic timeline :5) Value Stream Map of L Crank Case (Casting) :
The Value Stream Map for L Crankcase Casting is drawn
with Effective Processing Time of each element of Process
and accounting the various Lead Time Elements, in getting
the Customer Order, Production Planning for Takt Decision,
Planning for Raw Material & Resources, which is as shown in
Table : 6-11 below :Table : 5- 8 Cycle Time (Minutes) of L. Crankcase
Cycle Time
(A)
Reliability (B)
Up Time ('C)
Effective
Cycle Time
= (A) / (B*C)
L. Crankcase Casting ( Cycle Time in Minutes)
1
Melting Furnace
60.00
99%
95%
63.80
2
Holding Furnace
30.00
99%
99%
30.61
3
Casting
2.08
95%
90%
2.44
4
Trash Cutting
1.00
100%
100%
1.00
Sr
Operations
ISSN: 2231-5381
Figure : 5- 6 VSM of Current State (M/s XYZ Ltd.)
6) Value Chain Overview
On the Value Stream Map (VSM) [5] , there are three
main processes which enable information and physical flows
going through the manufacturing system and realizing the
daily production.
The value chain starts with order taking process which
begins when Combined Engineering receive Purchase Orders
from customer by marketing department and ends when the
orders are passed to production planning.
For Regular supplies to Original Equipment Manufacturer
(OEM) M/s XYZ Ltd. receive Open order and that is to be
executed against Monthly Delivery Schedules. It excludes
the quoting and order confirming process M/s XYZ Ltd. also
does the Job-work for variety of Customers for varied
Requirements to ensure 100% Capacity Utilization on Die
Casting Machines.
In most of the cases Pressure Die casting Dies are
provided by the customers that has reduces the Die
Development Time thus helps in reducing start time once
order is received, this process takes normally 6days to finish.
For different orders, M/s XYZ Limited follows different
Production Planning Techniques:



Build-to-Order (BTO).
Make n Shift.
Long Term Planning
Short Term planning.
http://www.ijettjournal.org
Page 215
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume 12 Number 5 - Jun 2014
7) Value-Stream-Mapping based Description :
The Value Stream Map for Die Casting Repeater Category
part (L Crankcase (Casting) reveals following information as
Tabulated & shown below in Table : 5-9 :
Table : 5- 9 VSM Observations L. Crankcase (Casting)
L CRANKCASE (CASTING)
Sr.
Items
Process Time (PT)
(Value Addition)
Results from VSM
102.73 Minutes or 1Hrs &
43Min
2
Through Put Time
(TPT)
266.43 Hrs. or 11Days 0Hrs
& 42 Min
3
Lead Time
18 Days {11 Days (TPT) +
6 Days (Order Processing) +
1 Day (Transport)}
1
The first figure shows the working capacity for each process
unit. In the Figure : 6-, the working capacity is presented by
the volume of L Crankcase Casting & each Process Element
could produce based on the current shifts setting. It is infer
that the Post Operations could also be a bottleneck.
However when considering the next two figures, Casting &
Post operations processes are more possible to be the
bottlenecks. Their extra available working time is fewer than
the other processes. The Manual Fettling process has the least
flexibility to increase deployment due to Skill, Space and
shifts, hence it is the most often bottleneck of the production
line
8) Lead Time :
The Lead Time is from order taking to delivery. According
to the historical experience, what Combined Engineering can
assure for customer is normally 12.5 Days which includes one
weekly off. As the TPT [6] for L Crankcase Casting is higher
than the other products, the lead time could be set less than
12.5 Days.
There are some of the processes to consist of these days
especially Order taking time (excluding quoting), Production
planning (include Takt decision and furnace planning),
Purchasing, Producing and Delivering.
9) Through-Put-Time (TPT)
According to the above table, the TPT [30] is 11 days,
including 01 Hrs 43 Minutes value adding time. Thus the nonvaluing adding time is 10days 22Hrs (including 8 Hrs of
preparation time for Furnace Charging). The calculation result
from VSM could almost reflect the realistic daily working
condition. The data from production data for this year shows
that the average Through-Put-Time of L Crankcase Casting is
12.5 days.
The Non-Value Addition (NVA) time means that the TPT
could be shortened by 7 days, which would be a huge
achievement for M/s XYZ Limited.
10) Process Bottleneck
The bottleneck has been detected by Combined
Engineering as Die Casting & Manual Fettling, However
when different product mix goes through the production line,
the other Process Elements possibly will turn into be a
bottleneck, e.g. Machining > Setup-1 on VMC, Fine Boring
on VMC or 6-ø8.2x120L Holes Drilling on VMC.
There are three tables drawn based on the VSM. They
could give a comprehensive understanding of the bottleneck.
ISSN: 2231-5381
Figure : 5- 7 Bottlenecks in Process
The characteristic of the customer order is inconsistent and
few types of parts are exhibiting fluctuations like high tide
and some are having the order volume is on such a low level
even the Die Loading & Preparation time costs more than the
total Business Volumes in terms revenue generated out of.
The reasons associated with are mostly Customer’s Product
performance and Off-take as these products are having direct
adoption to a Model Specific or its Variants. The sales are
directly linked with the Production. In this case, the order
follows the Business Trend and acceptance in the market; the
low volume is just reflecting the customers´ production
condition. Low quantity of a Product Family or a Moderate
Requirements makes the Business at Combined Engineering
to be more Adaptive & Planned to combat with the situations
thus arises.
After the above analysis, it could sum up that M/s XYZ
Limited is operating in a Business Scenario which faces a
market which needs Timely Supply of a Large Variety of
Parts at Competitive Pricing with High Demand Fluctuation.
This Demand Fluctuations makes M/s XYZ Limited a
Potential playground for meeting the unique market
requirement and challenge the production system to do Quick
& Timely Response……and that is the condition is what
KANBAN is designed for.
http://www.ijettjournal.org
Page 216
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume 12 Number 5 - Jun 2014
11) Value Stream Mapping with KANBAN :
Here we will use Value Stream Mapping (VSM) to give an
overall picture to visualize where and how KANBAN will
improve the process flow of L Crankcase casting. The value
stream mapping is still based upon the data of the L
Crankcase casting (Current State).
The Takt decision states at the top level of production
control, which levels customer orders directly and send the
production schedule together with weekly Takt goal
downward to Melting Furnace and Die Casting Shop. Then
the Die Casting Shop does casting re-planning based on the
Die Loading & Business Volume, which cost normally 1
week. The Die Casting shop uses planning KANBAN Board
to plan the Daily Work for Die Casting Processes, excluding
Gate Cutting. As the Value Addition Time to Non Value
Addition Time is very Low therefore bottleneck is shifted
from Die Casting to Manual Activities which is affecting
Takt Time. The daily production plan in Combined
Engineering is always adjusted according to the KANBAN
Board schedules, addressing to Daily Customer’s
Requirements..The Kanban cards go through each process
unit working with local Kanban board.
The TPT here is obtained from the calculation: WIP is
divided by Takt. The time sum up method is not used here,
because when the mix products go through production line,
the TPT cannot be got from simply time sum up calculation.
Kanban Board adopted for Repeater category of Parts is as
given below in Figure : 6-15 :-
VI. RESULTS & DISCUSSIONS
1) Strength of the holistic Kanban system
The respective components are expected to work as a
whole system. When having an overview of the whole
system, it could get the some functions which the respective
Kanban components cannot delivery by itself.
2) Synchronize the production pace
The Kanban synchronizes the production pace from input
pace setting to implementing. The bottleneck limits the
production pace. The non-bottleneck processes are scheduled
to coordinate with it.
3) Set products flow sequence :
The Kanban set the producing sequence rule-FIFO. The
machine shop uses planning Kanban board to realize the FIFO
rule.
4) Standardize work and operation procedure :
Every staff involve in the production unit follows the
Kanban rules and routines to process their daily work. These
rules and routines have standardized work time, work
sequence and work in process. These series standardized
works clarify the daily work for operators as well production
managers.
5) Visualize the production process :
The physical Kanbans are all have function to visualize and
clarify the daily works for each stakeholder. The visual daily
work could easily inform stakeholder what to do, when to do
and what is going wrong as well. The visual stuff could
release some remember thing from each stakeholder,
eliminate wrong operation and bring problem out of water.
Figure : 5- 8 KANBAN Board for Repeater Category Parts
6) Reduce TPT And Guarantee Delivery Date :
As the WIP is reduced, the TPT would be automatically
reduced to some extent. The following table shows the change
of TPT before and after Kanban implementation. Some
product families have longer TPT, but the TPT for the Roll-up
product L Crankcase Casting has been reduced over 25%.
Because of Shorter Through-Put-Time more Accurately
Forecast for the output can be done. The shorter and more
consistent TPT enables M/s XYZ Limited to guarantee the
delivery date to its customers.
7) Integrate Thinking And Doing :
The Kanban requires the production planning staff to think
the production system in an integrated way. The planning
Kanban board provides a good plate for the floor staff to work
Figure : 5- 9 VSM with KANBAN for L Crankcase
ISSN: 2231-5381
http://www.ijettjournal.org
Page 217
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume 12 Number 5 - Jun 2014
together, sharing, discussing and cooperating. The Kanban
reveals and illustrates the daily work of each operator, and
informs the operators how important their work is. This
positive feedback has possibility to enable the operators to
think their job in a more open way. In this way, any extra
thinking and discussion would improve the production.
8) Accelerate Cash Flow :
After the above analysis, it is easy to tell that the reduced
WIP lower the inventory carrying cost, which, together with
the decreased TPT, accelerate the cash flow rate.
VII.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
My Special Thanks Management & Staff of M/s XYZ
Limited, who have helped me to complete this Practical
Exercise and have shared their process knowledge.
Am Grateful of Dr. Sudhir Agrawal, Director Truba
College of Engineering & Technology for setting up a Shop
Floor exercise as a part of my studies and gain the maximum
of insight.
At last not the least, am Grateful of my family for their
unrelenting patronage & support.
VIII.
REFERENCES
[1] M. R. &. J. Shook, "Learning to See : Value Stream Mapping to Create
Value & Eliminate Muda," The Lean Enterprise Institute, 1999. [Online].
Available: [Accessed 10 June 2014].
[2] V. S. Guru, "What are the Benefits of Value Stream Mapping.," Value
Stream
Guru,
[Online].
Available:
http://www.valuestreamguru.com/?p=60. [Accessed 28 May 2014].
[3] "Learn DMAIC in Five Minutes," DMAIC Tools, [Online]. Available:
http://www.dmaictools.com/. [Accessed 28 Nov 2013].
[4] P. Gustafsson, Project Charter-Kanban in Åkers Sweden AB, Sweeden:
InQ.com, 2010.
[5] K. J. Duggan, Creating Mixed Model Value Streams: Practical Lean
Techniques for Building to Demand, New York: Productivity Press,
2002.
[6] L. M. Forum, "Learn lean Manufacturing," Word Press, 12 August
2006. [Online]. Available: http://www.learnleanblog.com/2006/08/leanmanufacturing-throughput-time-and_12.html. [Accessed 14 June 2014].
ISSN: 2231-5381
http://www.ijettjournal.org
Page 218